Introduction
In the industrial sector, software reliability and performance are paramount. Companies rely on robust, high-performing applications to manage critical processes such as production monitoring, device diagnostics, and data acquisition. Prosys, a leader in providing production and process monitoring solutions, understands this need better than most. Their commitment to delivering reliable, efficient software solutions is exemplified by their use of AQtime, a powerful profiling tool that helps them optimize their applications for 24/7 industrial environments.
This guide will take a deep dive into how Prosys utilizes AQtime to ensure its software meets the highest standards of performance and reliability. We will explore the key features of Prosys products, their optimization strategies, and how AQtime plays a crucial role in maintaining their software's efficiency.
What is Prosys?
Prosys is a technology company specializing in production and process monitoring solutions. They offer a wide range of products and services, including:
Software for Production Monitoring: Tools that help businesses monitor and manage their production processes in real-time.
Subcontracting Services: Providing expert services for industrial device, machine, and system developers and manufacturers.
OEM Licensing: Offering licensing options for their software solutions to other companies in the industrial sector.
Prosys is known for its commitment to quality and customer satisfaction, which is why they place a high priority on the performance of their software. To meet the rigorous demands of 24/7 industrial applications, Prosys relies on AQtime to ensure its software is optimized for speed, reliability, and memory management.
Prosys Sentrol: A Key Product in Prosys' Portfolio
One of the standout products in the Prosys portfolio is Prosys Sentrol. This component-based rapid OPC (OLE for Process Control) application development framework is designed for use with Borland® Developer Studio (Delphi™ and C++Builder™). It enables developers to quickly and flexibly create advanced applications for data acquisition, production monitoring, and device diagnostics.
Key Features of Prosys Sentrol
OPC Compliance: Prosys Sentrol is certified for OPC Compliance by the OPC Foundation, ensuring that it meets industry standards for interoperability in industrial automation.
Rapid Development: The framework is designed for rapid application development, enabling developers to quickly build and deploy applications that can operate in complex industrial environments.
Flexibility: Prosys Sentrol supports the development of a wide range of applications, from simple data acquisition tools to complex production monitoring systems.
Given the critical nature of the applications developed using Prosys Sentrol, performance, and reliability are of utmost importance. This is where AQtime comes into play.
The Role of AQtime in Prosys' Optimization Strategy
AQtime is a comprehensive performance and memory profiling tool that Prosys has integrated into its development process to ensure its software solutions meet the highest standards. AQtime helps Prosys identify performance bottlenecks, manage memory allocation, and maintain the overall reliability of its software.
Why Prosys Chose AQtime
According to Jouni Aro, Software Manager at Prosys, the decision to use AQtime was based on several key factors:
Thoroughness: AQtime provides detailed and thorough analysis, allowing Prosys to delve deep into their code and identify issues that could impact performance.
Flexibility: The tool offers flexible analysis and reporting options, making it easy to focus on specific problem areas within the code.
Completeness: AQtime includes a wide range of tools that enable a complete analysis of any software application, covering performance, memory management, and resource usage.
Usability: Despite the complexity of profiling, AQtime presents its data in a way that is easy to understand, helping developers quickly identify and address issues.
Cost-Effectiveness: AQtime offers great value for money, providing Prosys with a powerful set of tools at a reasonable cost.
In essence, AQtime allows Prosys to ensure their software not only meets the required performance standards but also remains reliable in demanding 24/7 industrial environments.
Profiling and Optimization with AQtime
Profiling is a critical part of the software development lifecycle, especially for applications that need to operate continuously in industrial settings. Prosys uses AQtime for various profiling tasks, each contributing to the overall reliability and performance of their software.
Performance Profiling
Performance profiling involves analyzing an application to identify sections of code that consume the most resources. This process is crucial for optimizing the speed and efficiency of an application.
Identifying Bottlenecks: AQtime helps Prosys identify the methods and functions that consume the most CPU time, allowing them to optimize these areas for better performance.
Real-World Testing: Prosys emphasizes the importance of real-world testing, as premature optimization can lead to wasted effort. AQtime’s performance profiler provides a clear view of which parts of the code truly impact performance, helping Prosys focus its optimization efforts where they matter most.
Memory Allocation Profiling
Memory management is another critical area for 24/7 applications. Memory leaks or inefficient memory usage can cause an application to crash or slow down over time, which is unacceptable in industrial environments.
Leak Detection: AQtime’s memory profiler allows Prosys to detect and fix memory leaks, ensuring that their applications use memory efficiently.
Detailed Analysis: The tool provides detailed reports that show exactly where memory is being allocated and whether it is being properly freed. This information is crucial for maintaining the long-term reliability of Prosys Sentrol and other software products.
Live Profiling
In addition to standard profiling, AQtime offers live profiling capabilities, which are invaluable for monitoring an application’s performance over time.
Continuous Monitoring: Live profiling allows Prosys to monitor their applications in real time, tracking memory usage, object allocations, and other critical metrics as the application runs.
Identifying Long-Term Issues: This feature is particularly useful for identifying issues that only appear after the application has been running for an extended period, such as memory leaks that gradually consume system resources.
Case Study: Memory Leak Detection in Prosys Sentrol
A notable example of AQtime’s value to Prosys is its use in detecting and fixing a memory leak in Prosys Sentrol. After a recent update, a customer reported that their application was gradually consuming more memory over time, eventually leading to system crashes.
Initial Investigation
The Prosys team began by using AQtime’s allocation profiler to analyze the application. Initially, the profiler did not report any significant leaks that could explain the issue. However, the team decided to use AQtime’s live profiling feature to monitor the application over time.
Live Profiling Results
The live profiler revealed that under certain conditions, the application was creating and holding onto objects that were not being properly freed. This issue was traced back to a specific optimization that had inadvertently caused memory to be retained longer than necessary.
Buffer Management: The problem was related to how Prosys Sentrol managed data buffers during periods of high data throughput. While the buffers were eventually cleared, they were not being freed, leading to gradual memory consumption.
Resolution: With the help of AQtime’s resource profiler, the Prosys team was able to identify and fix the issue, ensuring that the buffers were freed properly and the memory leak was eliminated.
Ensuring Reliability in 24/7 Industrial Environments
For Prosys, reliability is the top priority when developing software for industrial applications. To achieve this, they employ a range of best practices, with AQtime playing a central role in their reliability strategy.
Refactoring
Prosys regularly refactors their code to keep it clean and simple. This practice reduces the likelihood of introducing bugs and makes the code easier to maintain and optimize.
Unit Testing
Unit tests are used to verify that individual components of the software work correctly. This helps catch issues early in the development process before they can affect the overall performance or reliability of the application.
Exception Logging
Prosys implements robust exception logging to capture and analyze unexpected application behavior. This data is invaluable for diagnosing and fixing issues that might otherwise go unnoticed.
Code Instrumentation
To further enhance their debugging capabilities, Prosys uses code instrumentation to log detailed information about the application’s behavior. This helps ensure data integrity and provides additional insights during the profiling process.
Prosys and AQtime: A Partnership for Optimization
The relationship between Prosys and AQtime is a testament to the importance of using the right tools for the job. By integrating AQtime into its development process, Prosys has been able to maintain the high standards of performance and reliability that its customers expect.
Continuous Improvement
Prosys recognizes that optimization is an ongoing process. Even after an application is deployed, they continue to use AQtime to monitor its performance and identify areas for improvement. This proactive approach ensures that their software remains reliable and efficient, even as it evolves to meet new challenges.
Cost Savings
By catching performance issues and memory leaks early, Prosys has been able to reduce the cost of debugging and support. This not only benefits their bottom line but also enhances customer satisfaction by delivering a more stable product.
Conclusion
Prosys has built a reputation for delivering high-quality, reliable software solutions for industrial applications. Their success is due in no small part to their use of AQtime, a powerful profiling tool that helps them optimize their software for performance, reliability, and memory management.
Whether you’re developing applications for industrial use or any other field where reliability is critical, the lessons learned by Prosys can be applied to your own projects. By incorporating thorough profiling and optimization practices into your development process, you can deliver software that meets the highest standards of quality and performance.
Key Takeaways
Comprehensive Profiling: AQtime provides detailed analysis tools for performance, memory, and resource profiling, helping Prosys optimize its software.
Memory Management: Detecting and fixing memory leaks is crucial for maintaining the reliability of 24/7 industrial applications.
Live Profiling: Continuous monitoring with live profiling helps identify long-term issues that might not be apparent during standard testing.
Optimization Practices: Prosys emphasizes the importance of refactoring, unit testing, and code instrumentation as part of their reliability strategy.
Cost-Effectiveness: AQtime’s thorough and flexible profiling capabilities offer great value, reducing the cost of debugging and improving overall product quality.
FAQs
1. What is Prosys?
Prosys is a company that provides production and process monitoring solutions, subcontracting services, and OEM licensing for industrial developers and manufacturers.
2. How does Prosys ensure the reliability of its software?
Prosys uses a combination of refactoring, unit testing, exception logging, code instrumentation, and profiling with AQtime to ensure their software is reliable and performs well in 24/7 environments.
3. What is AQtime, and how does Prosys use it?
AQtime is a performance and memory profiling tool. Prosys uses AQtime to analyze its software, identify bottlenecks, detect memory leaks, and ensure optimal performance.
4. What are the benefits of using AQtime for profiling?
AQtime offers thorough analysis, flexible reporting, and live profiling capabilities, making it easier for developers to identify and address performance and memory issues in their software.
5. What is Prosys Sentrol?
Prosys Sentrol is a component-based rapid OPC application development framework for Delphi and C++Builder. It enables the quick development of applications for data acquisition, production monitoring, and device diagnostics.
6. How does AQtime help with memory leak detection?
AQtime’s memory profiler detects and reports memory leaks, helping developers identify where memory is not being properly freed and allowing them to fix these issues before they impact performance.
7. What is live profiling, and why is it important?
Live profiling allows developers to monitor an application’s performance in real time, tracking memory usage, object allocations, and other metrics over time. It’s important to identify issues that only appear after the application has been running for an extended period.
8. How has AQtime improved Prosys’ software development process?
AQtime has helped Prosys reduce debugging costs, optimize their applications more effectively, and ensure their software remains reliable and efficient in demanding industrial environments.
Comments